"Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action" is a leadership and business book authored by Simon Sinek. It was first published in 2009. The book explores how successful leaders and organizations think, act, and communicate, emphasizing the importance of starting with "why" – a clear sense of purpose and beliefs – before considering "how" and "what". Sinek introduces the "Golden Circle," a framework that illustrates how understanding and communicating the "why" can inspire others.
In "Start with Why," Sinek argues that people are more likely to be inspired and motivated by a sense of purpose than by manipulation. He uses examples such as Apple, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Wright Brothers to demonstrate how communicating "why" fosters loyalty and can lead to remarkable achievements. The book is divided into three parts and 14 chapters, taking approximately 3-5 hours to read. A 15th-anniversary edition was released in 2025, featuring a new foreword and updated examples. As of mid-June 2017, "Start with Why" was ranked as the bestselling leadership book, selling 171,000 paperback copies. The book has not been adapted into a film or TV series, but Sinek's TED Talk based on the book has garnered over 65 million views.
